The next step is to hook the Entry model up with the admin panel. You can do it with one line of code, but in this case, I want to add some options to customize the way the admin panel shows the entries, both in the list view of all entry items in the database and in the form view that allows us to create and modify them.

All we need to do is to add the following code:

# entries/admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Entry

@admin.register(Entry)
class EntryAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    fieldsets = [
        ('Regular Expression',
         {'fields': ['pattern', 'test_string']}),
        ('Other Information',
         {'fields': ['user', 'date_added']}),
    ]
    list_display = ('pattern', 'test_string', 'user')
    list_filter = ['user']
    search_fields = ['test_string']

This is simply beautiful. My guess is that you probably already understand most of it, even if you're new to Django.

So, we start by importing the admin module and the Entry model. Because we want to foster code reuse, we import the Entry model using a relative import (there's a dot before models). This will allow us to move or rename the application without too much trouble. Then, we define the EntryAdmin class, which inherits from admin.ModelAdmin. The decoration on the class tells Django to display the Entry model in the admin panel, and what we put in the EntryAdmin class tells Django how to customize the way it handles this model.

First, we specify the fieldsets for the create/edit page. This will divide the page into two sections so that we get a better visualization of the content (pattern and test string) and the other details (user and timestamp) separately.

Then, we customize the way the list page displays the results. We want to see all the fields, but not the date. We also want to be able to filter on the user so that we can have a list of all the entries by just one user, and we want to be able to search on test_string.

I will go ahead and add three entries, one for myself and two on behalf of my father. The result is shown in the next two screenshots. After inserting them, the list page looks like this:

I have highlighted the three parts of this view that we customized in the EntryAdmin class. We can filter by user, we can search, and we have all the fields displayed. If you click on a pattern, the edit view opens up.

After our customization, it looks like this:

Notice how we have two sections: Regular Expression and Other Information, thanks to our custom EntryAdmin class. Have a go with it, add some entries to a couple of different users, get familiar with the interface. Isn't it nice to have all this for free?